


Two Headed Dog (Red Temple Prayer)

by scratches



Series: Darcy Lewis Bingo2020 [2]
Category: Ant-Man (Movies), Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Music, F/M, Natasha can shred, The Avengers Are a Band, radio dj, the guitar folks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-25
Updated: 2020-09-07
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:07:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25498108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scratches/pseuds/scratches
Summary: Darcy covers Scott and Luis’ show at the university.  Interviewing The Avengers, well, that was worth paying for these six college credits.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Darcy Lewis
Series: Darcy Lewis Bingo2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1845682
Comments: 6
Kudos: 46
Collections: Darcy Lewis Bingo





	1. I Think Of Demons

**Author's Note:**

> -shrugs- I mean... who doesn't want a Band AU?

Title: I Think of Demons  
Square (letter, number, and prompt):C-3 six college credits  
Pairing/Main Ship: eventually Bucky/Darcy  
Rating: T  
Summary: Darcy covers Scott and Luis’ show at the university. Interviewing The Avengers, well, that was worth paying for these six college credits.  
Word Count: 1531

It was not everyday that Scott sent out a cover request to her. Darcy was just one of those **six college credit** DJ’s. She was only a DJ because she needed to get those communications credits she skipped for the first five years of her degree. (Hey, some people were on the six year bachelors degree track, but she will come out with two minors along with it.) Scott and his co-host, Luis, did the weekly interview of bands that were visiting. They would sit the band down for some spoken word and then move them into the studio for a few live songs. The radio station would record the live session and burn it onto a few discs for the band, too. Then, Scott and Luis would generally sign off with more spoken word.

But this, Darcy was not ready for _this_. Scott and Luis had called her that morning. Both of them, as roommates off campus, had caught the stomach bug that was going around, and according to Luis, it was...well, it wasn’t good. Darcy was still trying to scrub the images out of her brain. The show that she was going to cover, well, it was worth every penny for her degree. It was worth moving three thousand miles away for school for. Fuck, she might change her degree plan again after this. 

The Avengers. They caught the stomach bug and passed their interviewing notes onto Darcy. The Avengers, the indie music darlings. The band who started in a basement in Brooklyn and exploded onto the international music scene after catching a break by being featured in a Stephen Strange film. The Stephen Strange thriller that had sweeped the audience off their seats at Telluride. Sweeped them at Cannes. Someone passed out and EMT’s had to be called in at Sundance. The band was _in_ the film, not just on the soundtrack. Stephen had urged them to be a part of the film.

These were the best **six college credits** she has ever earned. 

Darcy bounced on her heels as she waited. Scott had told her to relax on the phone call between vomiting. He assured her that they were chill. Darcy found out that Scott had made friends with The Avengers during his undergrad years in New York before he moved to California. She clutched the interview notes to her chest when the closing doors to a white fifteen passenger van made her vibrate with energy.

A hand grabbed her shoulder and Darcy _eeped_ before turning to look at the station manager. Hope raised one of her brows before she asked, “They are just people, remember that.”

She whipped the stack of pages out and pointed to the door, “In like ten seconds, I’m going to meet…”

Hope gripped her other shoulder, “Five extraordinary human beings, but they are just human beings. Just like you and me.”

“I’m going to hyperventilate.” Darcy cried.

“You,” Hope shook her shoulders, “are going to be fine.” She looked over Darcy’s shoulders and caught her eye, “If Scott and Luis can do this _routinely_ , you are more than capable.”

Darcy took some deep breaths and let them out slowly, one after another. “I don’t even know how to set up the live studio.”

Hope shook her again, “That is why I am here.” She kissed Darcy’s cheek and left a mauve print. “You just get to do the fun interviewing part.”

She took another deep breath and let it out, “Do they need help?”

Hope rolled her eyes and let her shoulders go. “Just sit down,” Hope pointed to the ripped leather couch, “and read your notes.”

Darcy had to take a few breaths when she was finally in the DJ booth with the assembled Avengers. They had all been very warm when introducing themselves and Darcy only shook minimally. She didn’t vomit from nerves, and more importantly she didn’t _word vomit_ from nerves. She watched from behind the glass partition between booths as they set up their gear. She couldn’t wait to ask why Clint Barton was missing, Sam Wilson set up the small drum kit instead of setting up the missing therimine rig Tony Stark built for them. Watching Bucky Barnes slide through a sound check on his bass guitar had Darcy swooning. 

They all had their headphones on and were waiting for the current Beastie Boys song to finish. Natasha lounged back in her chair with a foot on the table with the microphone balanced on her knee, Sam sat next to her with his arms crossed across his chest, and then Steve sat in his khakis and tight blue t-shirt. Lastly, next to her, James _Bucky_ Barnes sat, his hair was slicked back, a stark contrast to the long greasy locks that he sported for the Stephen Strange film last year. 

“How long have you been at the station, Darcy?” Steve asked her, smiling wide.

Her eyes went wide. That’s right, she was supposed to actually have a conversation with these people. “Oh, uh, half of the semester. I’m just one of the passing through DJ’s collecting semester hours.”

Sam snorted and smiled also. It didn’t sound malicious, “And Scott just handed us off to you last minute, didn’t he?”

“I mean,” Darcy shrugged, “He’s the one who signs off on my communication hours, so how could I say no?” She smiled, “And, I mean, I’m not like disappointed that I’m here on my Saturday or anything.”

“He said you’re a Political Science major,” Natasha bounced her leg.

“Scott talks a lot,” Darcy looked at the countdown on the cd player, “we have about twenty seconds.”

Sam unwound his arms and rubbed his hands together. “I miss doing these kinds of interviews.”

“You just miss the smell of vinyl records,” Bucky quipped back and started thumbing through the records Darcy had pulled to play between segments.

Darcy held up her finger and counted back from five before flipping the switches on the board. “Welcome lovelies,” she started, “It’s Darcy, not Scott and Luis.” She looked around the booth, fuck it, why should she be nervous. She gets to joke around on the air for two hours with one of her favorite bands. “They are at home with a case of the poop-ya-pants virus going around. I want to thank whoever gave it to them because I get to be part of their show today. Usually they just put me in a headlock until I scream uncle.

“But, alas! I am here and I have some very _special_ guests with me.” She pressed play on the cued up cd. The imperial march played for a moment before she continued, “Scott somehow was able to assemble The Avengers for us,” Darcy paused.

Sam was the first to open his mouth, “Hey.” And then Steve, Natasha, and with a hard elbow from Steve, Bucky said their hellos. 

“I want everyone to know out there in radio-land that Bucky Barnes is sitting next to me and I haven’t vomited on his shoes from nerves yet.” Darcy looked into the live studio and Hope smacked her head and shook it. “Yeah, the program director didn’t want me to tell you that.” 

“They’re weather proof, doll,” Bucky growled into the microphone. 

“Won’t be the first time someone did it,” Sam retorted.

“I was the first time,” Natasha purred.

“Didn’t Clint do it too?” Steve asked.

“That time backstage at Coney Island,” Natasha answered.

“We do not speak about that time at Coney Island,” Sam waved his hand in Darcy’s direction.

“Well, if we can’t talk about Coney Island, can I ask where Clint is? You’re missing a vital member of the team!” She gestured with her hand, “I was really pumped to meet him and stare impolitely at his arms.”

Steve and Sam laughed into their mics and Natasha and Bucky rolled their eyes. “He also has the poop-your-pants virus going around,” Natasha said throatily.

“We’ve been in town for a few days and Clint went with Scott and family to the Zoo, and BAM! Stomach bug.” Sam’s clap was heard in their headphones.

“He has been banned from our hotel rooms until he is better,” Steve finished.

“Yeah, that stomach bug that’s going around is hella brutal,” Darcy grimaced. “Well, we have Natasha, Sam, Steve, and Bucky in the studio and we will talk more about the band and life and music after some Weezer off their new album.” Darcy reached behind her and slapped the turntable to life. She muted the microphones and looked around the room. "If you have any favorite song, feel free to pull them from the library ,if we don't have it we can stream it."

Bucky pulled a black and white album cover and a red and white album cover out of the pile before shifting it to Steve. "Looks like Scott pulled out favorites already."

Natasha popped a bubble of gum loudly, "He emailed us." She reached over and plucked the top album off of the pile. 

"Awesome, less work for me." Darcy did fake pompoms.


	2. It's a Cold Night for Alligators

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I highly suggest a listen to the songs before the reading of the chapter so you can get the vibe  
> The songs referenced in this chapter:
> 
> Its a Cold Night for Alligators  
> https://youtu.be/m5-Opt-D3JQ
> 
> Two Headed Dog  
> https://youtu.be/F7aLXehSXAo
> 
> Earth 616-- (Lunar Dunes- Herzegovina)  
> https://youtu.be/soEsjmudXdw
> 
> Pizza Man  
> https://youtu.be/4byEHgi2nUE  
> 

  
  
  
It's a Cold Night for Alligators

  


Darcy stood at the window separating the DJ booth to the live music booth and stared at the Avengers. They returned from a commercial break one song ago and Darcy watched as Natasha ran her fingers up the fretboard with the bulky headphones on. Sam kept the beat behind them and Bucky stood to the side and tapped his foot to the beat while free plucking at the thick strings to his bass. Natsha’s foot pressed against an effects pedal and Steve shifted his weight to keep up with her when she leaned into the microphone. It was one of the covers that the band did for the Stephen Strange movie. _”It’s a cold night for alligators,”_ her voice is sticky and sweet in Darcy’s ears, _“It’s a cold night for dogs,”_ they left a note open, _”The dogs choke on their barking, when they see alligator persons in the bog and fog.”_

The song brought The Avengers, and with them Roky Erickson, to mainstream radio. Bits of the song were littered through the movie, but during the climax of the movie where the band fought one another only to find out they are all projections of Bucky’s subconscious the whole song played. It hasn’t been confirmed by the band or Strange yet, but supposedly that scene held the World Record for most fake blood ever to be used on set. 

Darcy nodded her head to the beat and smiled as she caught Steve’s eye. He rolled his eyes at her and kicked his own effects pedal. Natasha leaned back from the microphone and shifted into a guitar solo, slipping her small fingers down the neck and back up. The lyrics were simple, but the images that the song created behind her eyelids made her smile. Natasha is crouched near the floor playing the guitar for the finale and for the last few beats, Sam stands behind the drum kit and finishes the song beating the cymbals and kick drum with vigor. 

In the movie, with the last beat, viewers saw Bucky laying in the pool of blood of his friends. The blood came up to the corners of his eyes and he stared into the ether, not meeting the camera, not looking at the bodies of his friends that he thought that he slaughtered. In one of his hands, he gripped the neck to a\his snapped bass guitar and the top to the snare drum floated next to him as the scene switched to the alive and well members try to talk Bucky out of his fugue state. 

Like a good fan, Darcy air drummed along to the last few beats with Sam before hitting the microphone button on her side of the glass. “That was, of course, _Cold Night For Alligators_ , originally by Roky Erickson.” Darcy took a deep breath, “I wish every last one of the listeners had been in here for that. Even missing Clint Barton that was absolutely phenomenal.” She looked between the glass and gave everyone a thumbs up to let them know their microphones were live, “If you haven't seen Natasha Romanov play the guitar, get on youtube right now and look that up. Seriously, you are missing out. Her playing is everything I need in my life and more.”

Natasha is breathy in the microphone, “Thank you.”

“Don’t stroke her ego too much,” Sam chuckled.

Darcy smiled at them, “I’ll try not to.” She gestured between them all, “So I remember seeing you guys a few years ago in a dirty dirty twenty four hour diner in Santa Cruz, and that was not the Roky Erickson song I recall you all playing.”

Steve leaned into his microphone, “Strange asked us to cover Cold Night after he heard us play Two Headed Dog at The Stone Pony.”

“That’s the one I remember hearing,” Darcy said, “my father was very impressed that you were covering a Roky Erickson song.”

“That was all Bucky’s doing,” Steve said. He continued with, “Him and Natasha had just came back from visiting family in Russia and…”

“We had to visit Kremlin after Kremlin with family,” Buck shook his head, dark hair fell into his eyes, “You know when you put a playlist on shuffle and the perfect song comes on?”

“I know the feeling a little too well,” Darcy answered.

“We were somewhere over Europe and that knucklehead wakes me from a dead sleep,” Natasha said.

“She wasn’t sleeping, Natasha doesn’t sleep,” Bucky goes on, “But Two Headed Dog comes on and it was every feeling I had about that visit. She looked at me and smirked.”

“We stopped and switched planes in London and texted the band and it was history,” Natasha shrugged.

“It’s never made it to an album though,” Darcy said.

“On purpose,” Sam sat heavily back onto his stool and explained, “every band has that one song that they only play live, you know?”

“Clint, it was Clint’s decision.” Steve had his head in his hand and shook it. “Clint has a beautiful way of thinking…”

“Is it anything like Luis’ train of thought?” Darcy asked.

“Thankfully not, but it’s good, all his theories and reasons make sense once we have a pizza in front of us.” Steve laughed.

“Pizza?”

“Clint Barton,” Steve shrugged, “We have no idea why it works, but a pizza always helps with the thought process.”

“Weren’t you at a pizza joint when you got the call about the Strange film?” Darcy asked.

“We knew it was a good sign, we were at Gino’s and about five slices in each after band practice,” Steve said.

“Is Gino’s a good luck charm kind of place?”

Bucky stared at her and smirked a little, “Gino’s is where all of us actually met. It took years for us all to meet, but that is where it happened.”

Darcy nodded and asked, “Isn’t there a box of Gino’s pizza in the movie?”

“It’s..what do you call it…” Sam thought for a moment, “an Easter egg.”

“That was a pretty brutal scene to watch, mentally,” Darcy said.

“Filming it wasn’t great either,” Natasha said. The Gino’s pizza box was the scene where she is being chased by dopplegangers of her band and she runs into a pizza delivery guy on a bicycle before they catch her and she has to fight for her life. 

“You still took them out.” Darcy looked at the band, “Is it true the band did all of their own fight scenes?”

“We all have a background in different martial arts and fighting styles,” Sam answered.

“And before you ask, **yes I did** accidentally choke Clint out on set,” Natasha looked smug.

“With your thighs,” Darcy interrupted happily.

“With my thighs,” she confirms.

“So, I have some more questions that were sent in by listeners, but how do you feel about playing a few more songs?” Darcy asked.

“I’m sure we can rustle something up,” Steve replied. “Earth 616?” He looked at his band and they all nodded.

“And here we go with _Earth 616_. The Avengers are live in the studio with us today.” Darcy tapped off her microphone and gave them the thumbs up. Sam cracked the drum sticks together and counted the band into the next song and Darcy nodded to the beat with a smile on her face.

The band continued to play a few more songs and Darcy texted Scott telling him how glad she was that he got the shits and that she could be there. He sent her a photo of him, Luis and Clint giving her the finger. She expanded the photo and held it up to the glass in the middle of one of their last songs. Bucky leaned towards the glass and kept the beat as he looked at the photo. He threw his head back and laughed loudly before stepping towards Natasha and whispering in her ear. 

Between songs while a commercial aired, Darcy noticed that Natasha pulled her phone out and sent off a message. A minute later, Scott texted her to ask if she knew about the Pizza Man song, and...of course she knew Pizza Man, it is a punk classic. She sent back an affirmative and Natasha whispered around to the band as Steve tuned his guitar as the last commercial played. 

When the commercial came to an end, Darcy re-introduced the band, letting the listeners know that this would be their last song. Natasha leaned into the mic and said, “This is a special song that goes out to Clint, Scott, and Luis. But mostly to our _wonderful_ host Darcy.” She cleared her throat and said, “Bucky will take over for this one.”

Everyone was smiling widely and Bucky adjusted his microphone a little, “I’m going to see if I can still hit these notes,” he chuckled in the microphone and caught Darcy’s eyes.

The simple beat started in her ears and before Bucky could start singing, on air she said, “You are not!” She laughed into the microphone before turning it off as Bucky tore into the song.

“Waah, Pizza Man! Give me your pizza! I want everything on it!” Behind his awkwardly high vocals the listeners could hear the band’s laughter as they continued with the extremely simple beat. “Dominoes thin crust tastes like…” Sam clucked into his microphone. “Ohh, Pizza man! Bring it to my home!”

“Ok pizza man, here’s your tip,” Bucky ended the song with a growl, “A blow to the head.”

Darcy rolled with laughter in the booth and continued when Sam spoke up, “But really, tip your delivery drivers, it’s a thankless job, folks.” 

Hope was an angel and put a PSA on for her as she composed herself. The band turned off their instruments and were laughing amongst themselves when they made it back to their seats with Darcy. She pressed their microphones back live, “I can’t believe you covered Old Skull.”

“Clint Barton covered Old Skull and we are stuck playing it eternally for him,” Bucky said lowly, “Like today, if he isn’t here, I am saddled with vocals.”

“Clint’s replication of a pre-pubescent boy singing is actually pretty phenomenal,” Natasha said.

“Hold on,” Darcy looked at her phone, “Scott says that you…. No Scott, I will not sing Pizza Man with them, absolutely not.”

“Yeah that was a nice photo he sent to you, too,” Bucky replied.

“For you listeners, Scott, Luis, and Clint sent me a _lovely_ selfie and I’ll post it at some point so the world can see.” She laughed and flicked the text over to the picture to show the rest of the band. 

“Clint once had a pizza man actually deliver a stack of pies during a show in the middle of the song,” Steve recalled, nodding with a smile on his face.


End file.
